Chicago Marathon + "Off" Season

I signed up for the Chicago Marathon for a couple reasons. First, it's become a habit. I've run Chicago in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and now 2009. (2006 was the Marine Corp Marathon, and 2007 was Chicago and the Marine Corp Marathon). Secondly, I didn't know what to expect post-Ironman, so I wanted to have something on the calendar. Even so, the month between Ironman and Chicago was pretty spotty in training. I needed a rest after Madison. I also had invested so much emotional energy into Ironman, that motivation was lacking a bit.

The nice thing about this year, is that the weather cooperated. The last few years, it has been very hot. This year, the temp at start time was in the 30's. Given the spotty training, I didn't know what to expect for a time. I was just going to enjoy my day and rely on my training.

I was on a nice sub-4 hour pace until mile 15. A calf cramp slowed me down. I walked/jogged most of miles 16 and 17. for the last nine miles, I reduced the walk and mostly jogged, taking shorter and shorter walk breaks. Overall time was 4:21.

I was shocked, weirdly surprised, to feel that after Ironman, the marathon seemed pretty short. Only 4 1/2 hours. Piece of cake, right? I was still sore by the end. It was a good race. The other change in perspective brought on by Ironman was that right after the marathon I got my gear, got in my truck and headed back out to the suburbs to make Abby's soccer game. A few seemingly short years ago, the marathon was a whole weekend event. This year it was just a long run on Sunday morning and then on to my day.

Now I'm in my "Off" season. I'm taking a whole week off of training. As of today, Thursday, I'm a little nutty. My friends are making fun of me. Come Monday I start to settle into a Winter routine. I'm debating on joining the Masters swim program associated with my kids' team. Time to work on my cycle power output -- I need to climb hills better. And of course I want to work on my run speed.